XXIV featured in The Lawyer Top 20 Cases of 2017

Alan Steinfeld QC, Stuart Adair, Edward Cumming and Timothy Sherwin are all featured in The Lawyer’s article (£) detailing the top 20 most high-profile cases due to be heard in 2017.

Alan Steinfeld QC and Stuart Adair are instructed in Sharp & Ors v Blank & Ors, in which they are acting for approximately 6,000 retail and institutional shareholders of Lloyds TSB in a case against 5 former directors of Lloyds and the bank itself, which relates to Lloyds’ acquisition of HBOS during the banking crisis in 2008/2009. The shareholders are alleging negligence and breach of fiduciary duties on the part of the directors in respect of the information provided to shareholders in advance of the EGM at which the acquisition was approved. The principal allegation is that the directors failed to disclose and/or concealed the true financial circumstances of HBOS at the time. The value of the claim is approximately £350 million, but it is also politically sensitive as the government of the day and the regulators (the FSA and the Bank of England) supported and encouraged Lloyds’ acquisition of HBOS. The trial is listed to commence in October 2017 and to last for 3 months.

The trial of The Libyan Investment Authority v Société Générale SA and ors, featuring Edward Cumming (as lead junior) and Timothy Sherwin, is due to be heard over 3½ months from late April 2017. The LIA, Libya’s sovereign wealth fund, seeks to set aside various derivative investments of around US$2.1 billion made during the Gaddafi era and said to have been procured by a fraudulent and corrupt scheme.

Alan Steinfeld QC is mentioned again in relation to the matter of VB Football Assets v Segesta Ltd, a 5-week trial which is expected to commence in June 2017.